In the first place, Switzerland is a republic, with president and vice-president, as in the United States, but chosen every year.  Switzerland is made up of twenty-two cantons, or states, each of which has two representatives; and, besides these, there are 128 members of the National Assembly, and seven members of the Federal Council, each of which last is chosen once in three years.  The country is only one-third as large as the State of New York, being 200 miles long and 156 broad; and two-thirds of it is composed of lofty mountains or deep ravines.  The people are apparently such lovers of law and order as to need no rulers at all.  I think there must be propriety in the air they breathe.  They have honest faces, and honesty beams out of their clear blue eyes.  The school-boy even, instead of stopping to throw stones or climb fences or wrestle with another boy, walks along to school, at eight o’clock in the morning, with his square hair-covered satchel on his back, as orderly as if he were the teacher setting an example to his pupils.  The laborers, in blouse-frocks of blue or gray homespun, make no noise, no confusion.  All is done quietly, orderly and correctly; each one knows his duty and does it.

Although Berne is the capital, Geneva is the largest city; and I think if you could see it as it is, with grand snow-capped mountains at both sides, the clear blue lake,—­not always blue, for sometimes it is green, and then the blue Rhone can be distinctly seen flowing through it,—­the pretty green parks and gardens, clean streets, and oddly dressed people, you would think, as I do, that it is a very nice place to be in.

There are several little steamers which ply on the lake, and numberless little sail and row boats, and beautiful white swans, with tiny olive-colored cygnets, swimming and diving for food.  On the banks of the rapid river, which leaves the lake at the city, are the wash-houses—­a great curiosity.  But my letter is getting too long, so I must stop.—­Yours truly,

S.H.  REDFIELD.

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  Easton, Pa.

DEAR ST. NICHOLAS:  I send you an acrostic which I have made, and I hope you will print it.—­Yours truly,

B.

  ACROSTIC.

  My first has a heart that has ne’er throbbed with pity;
  My next has strong arms, but ne’er strikes for the right;
  My third has a head, but is not wise or witty;
  My fourth, a neat foot, but in country or city
  Is never seen walking, by day or by night;
  My fifth, with a mouth that is surely capacious
  Enough for a lion, is never voracious. 
  Guess from these five initials my whole, if you can;
  ’Tis a path ever used, yet untrodden by man.

Ans. Orbit.  Oak, Reel, Barrel, Iambic, Tunnel.

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CITY CHILDREN’S COUNTRY REST.

  Brooklyn, E.D.